Mr. America

How Muscular Millionaire Bernarr Macfadden Transformed the Nation Through Sex, Salad, and the Ultimate Starvation Diet

About the Book

“A remarkable story. . . . It is to Mark Adams’s great credit that, in Mr. America, he has rescued from obscurity a man whose influence is still felt in this country more than a century after he muscled his way onto the national scene.” —Wall Street Journal

Mr. America is the fascinating true story of Bernarr Macfadden, a self-made millionaire and founding father of bodybuilding, alternative medicine, and tabloid culture. Madfadden’s impact on popular American culture is everywhere, from yoga to raw food diets to US Weekly, and Mr. America vividly brings to life this charismatic and intriguing character.

Book Description

During two feverish decades between the world wars, Bernarr Macfadden did more to educate the world about healthy eating, alternative medicine, regular sexual activity, and exercise than anyone in history. His disciples included Upton Sinclair and Charles Atlas; among his employees were Walter Winchell, Ed Sullivan, and Eleanor Roosevelt. He launched the worst newspaper in U.S. history, founded a whole-grain utopian community in the New Jersey suburbs, trained fascist cadets for Mussolini, and came within a hair's breadth of being elected senator from Florida—running on a physical fitness platform. Yet today few have heard of this larger-than-life entrepreneur who changed American society. In Mr. America, Mark Adams illuminates Macfadden's captivating, ambitious, and unparalleled life.

Educator and Librarian Resources

Critical Praise

“In this impressive biography, Adams chronicles how, in the first half of the 20th century, Macfadden opened some of the country’s original health food restaurants and communes, assembled early bodybuilding shows, and built a $30 million magazine empire.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Every decade ushers in a new ‘revolutionary’ exercise fad (or three). But as Mr. America points out, most of them probably owe a nod to Bernarr Macfadden and his magazine Physical Culture.” —Men’s Journal

“A remarkable story. . . . It is to Mark Adams’s great credit that, in Mr. America, he has rescued from obscurity a man whose influence is still felt in this country more than a century after he muscled his way onto the national scene.” —The Wall Street Journal

“This book is a delightful and colorful piece of true Americana. Enjoy every twist and turn of it.” —Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love

“With such a great eccentric as his subject, Mark Adams shrewdly gets out of the way (and gives Macfadden’s extreme weight-loss regimens a try.” —Details

“Mr. America is a must read for those interested in health and fitness.” —The St. Petersburg Times

“Fascinating. . . . Adams spins a lively yarn in this biography of pioneering health-and-fitness guru Bernarr Macfadden. . . . A funny, informative history of a true American eccentric and the national preoccupation with health and fitness.” —Kirkus Reviews

“In the first half of the twentieth century, Bernarr Macfadden was central to American popular culture. . . . Bravo to Adams for enabling the rediscovery of this phenomenal American.” —Booklist

“A biography of one of the more amazing people whom few of us today have heard of. . . . Adams’s writing style and the fascinating life of Macfadden make this book hard to put down. Highly recommended for all libraries.” —Library Journal

“A witty, perfectly pitched re-creation of a long-forgotten and madly outsized figure. Adams will make you laugh with fresh information on every page, and in this age of flabby, overlong biography, his delightful production has a leanness that Macfadden himself would approve of.” —Thomas Mallon, author of Bandbox and Dewey Defeats Truman

“In this entertaining, briskly written biography, journalist Adams rescues from obscurity the history of Bernarr Macfadden. . . . Macfadden can claim to be the first person who hired and spotlighted the gossip columns of Walter Winchell and Ed Sullivancreating another huge impact on American culture.” —Publishers Weekly

“Imagine if Rupert Murdoch, Jack LaLanne, and Dr. Andrew Weil all got together and had a baby, then raised that child on wheat germ and 100 pushups a day. Only such a prodigy could give you a sense of the sheer eccentric magnificence of Bernarr Macfadden.” —John Hodgman, author of The Areas of My Expertise and More Information Than You Require

“When you read this book, you’ll be astonished you hadn’t heard of Bernarr Macfaddenone of the most fascinating, brilliant, bizarre, and influential characters in American history. I know I was. I want to thank Mark Adams for bringing him to light in this great biography.” —A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically and The Know-It-All

“Bernarr Macfadden was the ultimate life coach and one of the great influencers of his generation. He set the stage for the world of health and self help as we know it today. Mr. America is required reading for anyone committed to increasing the quality of their life.” —Baron Baptiste, author of Journey Into Power and Breaking Through

HarperCollins Reader

When you purchase e-books from HarperCollins, you can read it on our HarperCollins Reader App that is available on your iPhone/iPad, Android or Kindle Fire.

We encourage you to use the HC Reader App since it supports our type of e-book files and you may have some trouble with a different reader app.

Instructions

Please make sure you have a HarperCollins Account. If you purchase/have purchased an e-book from HarperCollins, this is your account login and password. Otherwise, please click here to register.

Download the HC Reader App on iPhone/iPad, Android or Kindle Fire and sign in with your HarperCollins account (your username is an e-mail address). Please note that Kindle Fire users must edit their settings (Settings < Device) to allow installation of apps in order to download the HC Reader App. This App is not available in the Amazon App Store.